Saturday Seasons: 2009, Shea Goodbye, Hello Citi Field

The Mets were trying to put the disappointing finishes of the previous two seasons at Shea Stadium behind them as they approached the 2009 season with new hope and a new ballpark.

The season would be defined by the new venue (3rd in franchise history) and a mind boggling spate of devastating injuries.

General Manager Omar Minaya made some changes during the off season to improve the bullpen.

With Billy Wagner undergoing Tommy John surgery in September, 2008, Minaya signed free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez, who came off a record setting season of 62 saves with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

A corporate sponsor bought the naming rights (the most lucrative in history to that point) for the Mets new home as Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $20 million dollars a year for 20 years. The new ballpark would be called Citi Field.

The ballpark cost $850 million dollars and was funded with $615 million in public subsidies, including the sale of New York City municipal bonds that are to be repaid by the Mets with interest.

Mets owner Fred Wilpon grew up in Brooklyn as a Dodger fan so the exterior of Citi Field was modeled after Ebbets Field. The front entrance honored Jackie Robinson’s life and accomplishments with the “Jackie Robinson Rotunda.”

The Dodgers had left Brooklyn 52 years prior but the Mets were criticized for not acknowledging their own history with this new ballpark.

Another debate centered around the cavernous dimensions of the ballpark.

From left to right, the original dimensions: 335 feet to left field, 358 feet to left center, 408 ft to center field, 415 feet to right center and 330 feet to right field.

The Mets hierachy wanted to build a “pitcher’s park” that would benefit their pitching staff and make it harder for the hitters, but the plan backfired as the team’s own hitters were not pleased and felt the ballpark played unfairly.

One notable drop off was from David Wright who went from 33 home runs in 2008 to 10 in 2009, although an injury in August contributed to that low total (more on that later).

Despite the critiques, the Mets new home was lauded by many as a beautiful and modern baseball park that replaced the aging Shea Stadium.

The Mets opened the season by splitting a six game road trip to Cincinnati and Florida before they headed home to christen their brand new venue.

In the final game of the trip, the Mets lost to the Marlins, 2-1, but not without some controversy.

Johan Santana gave up three hits and struck out 13 in seven strong innings but came up a tough luck loser when Daniel Murphy dropped a routine fly ball in the second inning that led to two unearned runs.

After the game, a frustrated Santana was quoted as saying, “It was just one mistake that he made, it cost us the whole ballgame, but it’s part of the game,” he said. “This is not going to be the first time. I don’t think it’s going to be the last one, either.”

On Monday, April 13th, the Mets hosted the San Diego Padres in the first regular season game at Citi Field.

A sellout crowd was on hand to see Tom Seaver throw the ceremonial first pitch to Mike Piazza, as they did in the final game at Shea Stadium seven months prior.

Mets starter Mike Pelfrey threw the first pitch to the first batter, Padres center fielder Jody Gerut. On the third pitch of the at bat, Gerut stunned the crowd by lofting a ball deep down the right field line for the first home run at the new ballpark.

In the home half of the first, Wright had the first Met hit, a two out double but the Padres scored three more in the second to take a 4-0 lead.

The Mets were trailing 5-1 in the fifth when Wright hit the first Met home run, a three run shot that tied the game at five.

The Mets went on to lose 6-5 but they got their first win at the new ballpark two days later when they beat the Padres, 7-2.

On April 17th, eight days after he was signed, Gary Sheffield hit his 500th home run. Sheffield entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and slammed a 3-2 pitch from Brewers left hand pitcher Mitch Stetter deep down the left field line for his milestone home run that tied the game.

Luis Castillo’s RBI single in the ninth gave the Mets a 5-4 victory for their first walk off win at Citi Field.

The Mets finished April with a 9-12 mark but in early May, they went on a seven game winning streak to move into first place in the NL East.

On May 13th, the Mets suffered the first of what would be a rash of devastating injuries when shortstop Jose Reyes injured his calf. A week after Reyes suffered the injury, he was placed on the disabled list and missed the remainder of the season.

Alex Cora, Anderson Hernandez, Wilson Valdez and Angel Berroa were the players who filled in for Reyes during his absence.

Three days after Reyes was injured, first-baseman Carlos Delgado underwent arthroscopic surgery on his hip and missed the rest of the season. Murphy took over as the Mets first baseman replacing Delgado.

One of the highlights of the season came on May 23rd at Fenway Park.

The Mets trailed the Red Sox 2-1 in the ninth and were down to their final out when light hitting catcher Omir Santos smacked a two out, two run home run off of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon to give the Mets a stunning 3-2 win.

Despite the crushing injuries, the Mets won 7 of their last 9 in May to post a 28-21 record and a half game lead in the NL East, however things went downhill from there.

Injuries continued to plague the Mets in June.

On June 4th, relief pitcher J.J. Putz had surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow. While he was on a rehab assignment in August, it was discovered that he had a torn UCL and missed the rest of the season. Eight days later, pitcher John Maine goes on the DL with a shoulder injury and misses the remainder of the season.

The same day that Maine was lost, the Mets suffered a crushing and humiliating defeat.

The Mets had an 8-7 lead over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium with two out and two on in the bottom of the ninth.

Stud closer Francisco Rodriguez got Alex Rodriguez to hit a pop up to second and it appeared the game would be over but Castillo dropped the ball, allowing two runs to score and the Mets suffered a devastating 9-8 defeat.

To their credit, the Mets won the next game but they lost 11 of the next 16 to finish June with a 9-18 mark that left them at 37-39, three games behind in the NL East.

On July 2nd, the Mets scored a 9-8, ten inning win in Pittsburgh to get back to .500 at 39-39.

At that point, the Mets were trailing the Marlins and Phillies by one game with a huge, three game series at Philly on tap. Unfortunately, the Phillies swept the Mets, who never got closer than four games out for the rest of the season.

In their final game before the All Star break, the Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-7 at Citi Field.

In the seventh inning, Mets pinch hitter Fernando Tatis homered off former Yankee David Weathers but the fans booed when the apple in center field malfunctioned and failed to rise.

At the break, the Mets were in fourth place in the NL East with a 42-45 record, 6.5 out of first place and 6.5 out of a NL wild card spot.

In late July, the Mets were involved in an embarrassing incident involving Vice-President for Player Development Tony Bernazard.

First, Bernazard publicly berated one of his assistants at Citi Field because someone had taken his seat during a game.

The next day, Bernazard was visiting the Mets Double-A team in Binghamton when he took off his shirt and challenged a number of minor league players to a fight during a locker room tirade. Bernazard was fired five days later.

At the presser to announce Bernazard’s firing, General Manager Omar Minaya accused Daily News beat reporter Adam Rubin of “lobbying” for a job in the organization. Minaya was implying that Rubin’s coverage of Bernazard was part of his personal agenda to secure a job in the front office. The next day, Minaya was forced by ownership to apologize.

On August 15th, the Mets were hosting the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field when the fans witnessed a frightening incident.

In the bottom of the fourth, Giants pitcher Matt Cain’s 0-2 pitch hit Wright in the head. Wright was able to walk off the field with some assistance but he was hospitalized overnight. Wright did not seem to be the same player as he only hit two more home runs after he returned in September.

On August 23rd, the Mets were hosting the Phillies when they were victimized by a rare occurrence.

The Mets were trailing 9-6 in the bottom of the ninth, when back to back errors brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out.

Jeff Francoeur, who was acquired from the Braves in July for Ryan Church, was at the plate against Phillies closer Brad Lidge. On a 2-2 pitch, Francoeur lined a ball up the middle where it was snagged by Phillies second-baseman Eric Bruntlett for the first out and then stepped on second base for the second out. Murphy, who was running on the pitch was tagged out near second base as Bruntlett completed the unassisted game ending triple play. It was only the second time in Major League history that a game ended on an unassisted triple play.

On September 13th, the Phillies swept the Mets in a doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park to officially eliminate them from the NL East and NL Wild Card race.

To add insult to injury, the Mets lost the second game 1-0 as their former pitcher, Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez tossed eight innings of shutout ball.

In the second half of the season, the bottom dropped out as the Mets went 28-47 to finish 70-92 and end a disappointing first season at Citi Field.